Article by
Barbados Today

Published on
September 20, 2017

The last time former Barbadian cricketer Shirley Clarke spoke with his son Kyle Mayers, there was reason to worry about his son’s safety.

It was in the early hours of Tuesday morning and Hurricane Maria was battering Dominica, to where Kyle had travelled last week to join the Windward Island cricket team for a training session ahead of the West Indies Professional Cricket League scheduled to begin at the end of the month.

Professional cricketer Kyle Mayers

The professional cricketer had told his dad he was “a little bit scared” because the winds were strengthening and the conditions were deteriorating.

Not having heard from the 25-year-old since, Clarke told Barbados TODAY he was desperate to hear from his son.

“The same day of the hurricane is the last time I heard him. He was okay at the time and he was getting a few things to prepare for it. The last time I heard him was minutes to two in the morning of the hurricane and after that everything just got shut off.He said he thought the roof was off. He was downstairs the apartment. He told me he was a little bit scared and just wanted everything to be over,” the worried father said.

“It’s a very uneasy feeling and I can’t wait to hear him. All now my head hurting me thinking about him. We are trying our best to reach him anyway possible and to get him home,” he added.

Kyle’s apartment was located on Federation Drive in Goodwill, a short walk from the capital, Roseau.

It was not immediately clear how much damage the area suffered, but there had been reports of flooding and torn roofs from as early as 9 p.m. on Monday.

Kyle’s mother Cathyann Mayers, whose last contact with her son was around 10 p.m. on Monday, said she has given his address to officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here, in the hope that they would locate him and get him home safely.

“I’m trying not to worry too much, but yes, I am worried. But I don’t want to overthink. We would have sent off a package to him through his friend in BDF [Barbados Defence Force] but I’m not really worried about the package, I want them to find my child. He’s my concern. The package is second to that,” the concerned mother told Barbados TODAY in a telephone interview.

“A lot of people are looking for Kyle. I would hope that he comes straight home after going through that category five hurricane. The competition doesn’t even start until the end of the month. I would just like him to come home to be back with his family and his daughter, N’Kyah, who is four years old, so that things would go back to normal.”

Like Kyle’s parents, his girlfriend Sharece Thornhill is worried. And despite the fact that she said she felt all would be well, Thornhill told Barbados TODAY she would travel to Dominica if she could in search of her boyfriend.

“I am trying to keep calm and I have faith that he’s okay. The area he is in is in town so I don’t feel like it’s that bad, but I’m just trying. Being that I know where he is exactly, if the house is damaged and he’s gone by other teammates, I know where they live. I don’t know if it would be possible to go and help find him,” she said.

Thornhill last spoke to Kyle in the early hours of Tuesday morning, when he updated her on the situation and asked her to try to find out when the worst of the storm was due to be over.

Thornhill said her response shortly thereafter never even reached Kyle.

“When he called he told me the house flood out and asked me if I would be able to find out when the hurricane would pass. I told him give me two minutes and then I sent the message and it didn’t go through.

“I just need him to get back home, that’s the truth. This is madness,” she said while holding back tears.

Meantime, Kyle’s best friend Kevin Earle said when they last spoke on Monday night, he tried to reassure Kyle that everything would be fine, and gave him advice on what to do following the cyclone.

“At the time, he asked me when the hurricane would pass because it felt like it was taking forever. Most importantly, I managed to get him to send me his location so that when communications went as expected we would know exactly where his apartment was,” Earle said.

Currently, they are counting on a mutual friend at the BDF, who left Barbados this evening for Dominica on the Coast Guard vessel, to local Kyle and ease their worries.

He is the one with the package and is due to arrive in Dominica tomorrow.

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8 thoughts on “Alarmed!”

Your child is going to be safe, I am sure he would like to get word out but can’t because every thing us down. I was in a cat 4 hurricane, I was able to tune in to Radio Antigua and hearing them say that Montserrat was flattened. My windows on the eastern side went but the roof stayed on and we had downstairs where we had to go to during the night. It was bad but we were OK, even gave shelter to others. For several days we could not communicate with anyone and it’s frustrating but that’s how it is at times like these. His friend from BDF will find him, one day a police from Barbados turned up at my house because someone here had asked him to seek me out. He may have to do without a bath but he will be ok.
I commented on this because I have an idea of how you feel and how he feels but it is going to be ok, the worst has past.
At least in the past 2 weeks Bajans caught up in these hurricanes have been getting help, in my time we got none, not even after returning here. Just hang in there your son will be fine.

Your child is going to be safe, I am sure he would like to get word out but can’t because every thing us down. I was in a cat 4 hurricane, I was able to tune in to Radio Antigua and hearing them say that Montserrat was flattened. My windows on the eastern side went but the roof stayed on and we had downstairs where we had to go to during the night. It was bad but we were OK, even gave shelter to others. For several days we could not communicate with anyone and it’s frustrating but that’s how it is at times like these. His friend from BDF will find him, one day a police from Barbados turned up at my house because someone here had asked him to seek me out. He may have to do without a bath but he will be ok.
I commented on this because I have an idea of how you feel and how he feels but it is going to be ok, the worst has past.
At least in the past 2 weeks Bajans caught up in these hurricanes have been getting help, in my time we got none, not even after returning here. Just hang in there your son will be fine.

I will be bold in my belief that I can safely say on behalf of all involved, “Thank you for your reassurances, Bonita Weekes.” Psychologically, it makes a big difference although nothing will compare to knowing for certain that he is well.

I will be bold in my belief that I can safely say on behalf of all involved, “Thank you for your reassurances, Bonita Weekes.” Psychologically, it makes a big difference although nothing will compare to knowing for certain that he is well.